Team of the Year 2005

Just five clubs are represented in the uefa.com users' Team of the Year 2005, which reflects a dramatic year of European football.

Record pollMore than 1.5 million votes, a record, were cast in the fifth edition by the users of uefa.com, and the resulting dream dozen includes five names who were in last year's selection as well as five players appearing in the team for the first time.

Liverpool duoTwo of those newcomers are Liverpool FC players. Steven Gerrard just pipped his England colleague Frank Lampard in a very competitive central midfield poll while Luis García, scorer of five goals in the knockout stage of Liverpool's successful UEFA Champions League campaign, is chosen at right midfield.

Ronaldinho againBeaten finalists AC Milan have three players in the selection - evergreen full-backs Cafu and Paolo Maldini and striker Andriy Shevchenko - as do FC Barcelona. Ronaldinho, the FIFA World Player of the Year and the winner of the Ballon d'Or, polled 90,295 votes, the highest total for any player as he took more than 72 per cent of the vote in the attacking midfielder category. He is joined by club colleagues Carles Puyol, back in the team at centre-back for the first time since 2002, and striker Samuel Eto'o.

Mourinho againJosé Mourinho was voted in as coach for the third successive year while Chelsea FC also have two players chosen, John Terry the runaway poll topper in the central defender category and Petr Čech as goalkeeper. His compatriot Pavel Nedvěd of Italian champions Juventus is chosen in the left midfield role for the third year in a row.

Henry run endsWhile Nedved completed a notable treble, Thierry Henry narrowly missed out on maintaining his record of being in every team since the awards' inception in 2001. The Arsenal FC striker missed out by little more than 1,000 votes, or less than 0.4 per cent, of the total vote in the forward category.

Top teams rewardedDavid Farrelly, uefa.com editor-in-chief, said: "The voting recognised both the two best teams in Europe last season by virtue of their appearance in the European Champion Clubs' Cup final, Liverpool and Milan, as well as the two clubs that have shone in their domestic leagues in the past 12 months, Chelsea and Barcelona.

Élite showcase"The final team seems to show the development of the next generation of top football stars and we are indebted to the users for their involvement in the process. It also comes as no surprise that the entire team selected will be involved in upcoming UEFA Champions League action next month, again showing the significance of that competition in delivering top quality football involving the best players in Europe."

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